Fallen Princess

by Alexa B. James

  “What should I take?” I asked Jetsun.

  “Let’s see what they leave us.”

  Gabor stepped forward and took down the other long ax. I knew they were only taking it so we couldn’t, but Jetsun had said his tools were a set, and I didn’t want to stand around emptyhanded while he worked. I wanted to help.

  “Nothing else we can easily cut wood with,” he said. “But grab the hatchet and you can make a little notch in each log for me.”

  “I thought you said Tadeu was helping you,” Camila said, stamping her foot. “You can’t have them all help. I only have Gabor!”

  Only Gabor. My heart ached at how he must feel right now, like he wasn’t good enough for her, like he’d never be able to please her or gain her love. I tried to catch his eye, but he was staring ahead, stone-faced as usual.

  “You know what?” I said to my sister. “Just so you’ll stop whining about it being unfair, I’ll let you choose who helps me. Gabor’s as good as any one of my men. You’re the one who will slow him down. With my help, any of my mates can beat you. So, choose who you want to see kick your ass.”

  A triumphant gleam lit her eyes as she surveyed my many lovers. Hulking Tadeu. Lord Balam’s strongman physique. Sir Kenosi’s tall, muscular form. Prince Kwame, long and lean but ropey with muscle. Jetsun, also tall and well built. And Shadow, with broad shoulders and narrow hips, my youngest and smallest lover. She pointed to him. “You.”

  He smirked at her, a feral glint in his own eye as he reached for the tools in Jetsun’s hands. “I’d be happy to crush you,” he hissed.

  We each rolled away a few of the rounds, which were just firewood-length sections of tree trunk. Shadow set one up expertly on its end and told me to make a notch in the top. When I had, he set the little wedge into the crevice, then banged it with the sledgehammer. The log split cleanly in two. I couldn’t help but grin, thoroughly impressed with my young lover’s skill.

  “Damn, boy,” I said, giving Shadow’s ass a playful slap. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

  “I lived alone since I was fourteen,” he said. “I know how to do lots of things.”

  “Yes, you do,” I said, watching in appreciation as he set the half-logs on end and made quick work of splitting them into burnable pieces. There was something undeniably sexy about watching a man work. It didn’t hurt when the man in question looked like Shadow. His long hair rippled out in the frigid evening breeze, his warm breath rising in whisps as he raised the sledge and brought it down on the log with skilled precision. He tossed the pieces into a pile, shook his hair back, and reached for the next log. I jumped in to make the notch in the top, since I’d been so distracted by checking him out that I’d forgotten.

  I looked over at Camila and Gabor, who were watching us. “Why didn’t you tell me that’s what that was for?” she grumbled at Gabor.

  “I didn’t know, Your Grace,” he muttered. “I’ve never done this before, either.”

  Splitting wood was beneath any ocelot’s station, including a guard’s. But I knew he’d do it, the same way he’d done lots of things below his station on this trip. Circumstances were different here, and he’d adapted, doing everything from washing our clothes to tranquilizing the princess to letting her attack him.

  We were all out of our element, but for a minute, I let my heart go out to her guard. He was alone in this, with just Camila on his side. And I knew from experience how that worked. She wasn’t really on his side. She was and would always be only on her own side. He could join her and take her side, but that was as good as it got. And though I knew she was smarter and more capable than I’d given her credit for, I also knew what a burden she could be. She was stubborn and would insist on her own way, then blame everyone else when anything went wrong. Like she was doing right now.

  But I didn’t feel bad enough to throw the competition. I wanted that amulet, and I was damn sure going to get it. I bent to my work, carving out notches in each of the sections of log so that Shadow could put the wedge into them to speed the process.

  When I looked up again, Gabor was making good progress, too. He was a bit slower than Shadow, though he was undoubtedly stronger. I had a feeling it had more to do with his tools, but he hadn’t let it slow him much. It was just taking him a lot more blows with the ax to split the huge rounds of wood the first time, but once he had them split, he was able to quickly section them into smaller pieces. Sweat was trickling down his temples and making his shirt stick to his body in a way that made me have to press my knees together. Between him and Shadow, the sight was enough to give any girl naughty fantasies. Both of them were sweating, working with fierce determination, and hot as sin. I couldn’t help but imagine myself sandwiched between those sweating bodies.

  “What are you so worked up about?” Lord Balam asked, circling my waist with his arm and nuzzling my neck. “You’re putting off enough pheromones to give every guy in the village a hard-on.”

  “What?” I asked, swallowing hard and turning to search his tattooed face.

  “I can feel your magic,” he murmured into my ear. “It’s almost like you’re in heat.”

  “Fuck,” I muttered, panic rising inside me when I remembered the last time, when I’d drawn every snow leopard in the mountains with my pheromones. “I’m not even a shifter. Do you think…”

  “Sorry, not like you’re in heat,” Lord Balam said. “Like a normal shifter’s heat.”

  Maybe I should have been offended at being called abnormal, but after a lifetime of being told how common I was as an unimportant, insignificant human, I took pride in being more. So much so that I didn’t even let my jealousy flare at the thought of how many shifters Lord Balam had smelled when they went into heat, and how many of them he’d fucked with that spectacular cock that I wanted all to myself.

  “What should I do?” I asked.

  “Let me fuck it out of you,” he growled against my neck, dipping his hand between my thighs.

  “Not here,” I muttered, pulling his hand away. “Why don’t the rest of you go chop would for the other villagers while you wait? There’s more wood outside a lot of the sheds.”

  “What about this wood?” Lord Balam asked, pressing his hips to mine to make sure I felt the iron ridge of his impressive cock against my ass. A shiver of excitement went through me, the way it did every time.

  “I’ll take care of that later,” I promised. “Now stop distracting me and go.”

  He chuckled against my ear, sending shivers spiraling through me. “I think you’re the distraction.”

  I looked around to see all of my men staring at me with the same hungry eyes. Damn. Maybe I really was releasing pheromones, or magic, or whatever it was that had them all looking at me like they’d go for another week-long gangbang. Even Camila was staring at me. Only Gabor kept working, seeming unfazed by whatever was happening.

  He didn’t even glance my way as he set up a quarter round and lifted the ax. His jaw was set, his nostrils flared as he breathed hard with the effort. His muscles bunched under his shirt, which clung to his six-pack abs as he brought the instrument down, splitting a piece of wood in two. Both pieces went flying. He straightened and wiped his forehead with his arm, and my clit throbbed with longing at the sight of his muscular body showing through his wet, white shirt.

  I willed his eyes to meet mine, but he avoided my gaze, a frown knitting his brow as he bent to pick up the next log.

  “What are you doing?” Camila demanded, jerking me out of my trance of longing. She glared at me, her eyes filled with suspicion and wariness.

  “Nothing,” I said quickly, and now it was my turn to avoid scrutiny. I turned away, grabbing a log that had been split in two, setting it up, and chopping a deep groove into the top with my hatchet.

  “It’s coming from you,” she said, her tone accusatory. “How are you doing that?”

  “I’m not doing anything,” I gritted out. What the hell? It was one thing to put a permanent mark on every guy I s
lept with. I had control of that. It was a whole other thing to start affecting everyone in the vicinity, including my own sister and her lover, even random strangers who might have been within range of… Whatever I was putting out there.

  “What… Exactly are you feeling?” I asked, straightening to meet Camila’s eye at last. Surely she wasn’t lusting after me.

  “You know what I’m feeling,” she hissed, her face reddening.

  “Actually, I really don’t,” I admitted.

  She searched my gaze for a long moment, then seemed to realize I was telling the truth. “Something totally inappropriate and unwelcome,” she snapped. “So cut it out.”

  “And who, exactly, are you having these unwelcome feelings for?” I asked. There was a pretty big distinction between making her lust after her own blood sister when she wasn’t a lesbian, and making her lust after her hunky guard, which was totally understandable. She didn’t need me for that. Hell, I’d gotten all worked up just looking at him, and I already had six lovers to satisfy me.

  “No one,” Camila said, looking miffed.

  “So, I’m just making you horny,” I clarified.

  She looked so shocked it was comical. I’d always liked to ruffle her feathers a little, and for a second, it was like we were still sisters, when I’d repeat some crude thing Tadeu and his friends had said in front of me, and her mouth would fall open and she’d turn scarlet to the tips of her ears.

  “You may have been born to royalty, but you’ve never had class,” she said, turning on her heel and flouncing back to Gabor. Maybe he’d finally get some relief tonight.

  The thought made me die inside, so I turned back to Shadow, trying to forget the man I couldn’t have and appreciate the one I did. He was every bit as mouthwatering as Gabor, but I tried to keep myself under control, thinking about the amulet and filling the shed and anything in the world except how tempting my mate was. While I was trying to quell my ill-timed urges, I couldn’t help but wonder if every time I got hot for a guy the whole world would know about. Talk about embarrassing. Camila was pissed I was making her horny when she wasn’t in heat. Meanwhile, I was walking around like a preteen boy with an inappropriately timed magic boner.

  Camila was apparently killing her urges by being a raging bitch to Gabor. She criticized his every swing of the ax, nagging him to be faster and whining that we were getting ahead. I thought about telling her that if she worked her arms as hard as her tongue, they might win. But I didn’t want her to win, so I didn’t say a word. It seemed she’d rather save her pride and prove she was above manual labor than win.

  At last, we had chopped all the wood beside the shed. Shadow and I raced to stack ours inside while Gabor hurried to fill his side and Camila lashed him with her scolding words. Gods, how had I never noticed what a spoiled little brat she was?

  Or maybe I had noticed, but I loved her, so I’d made excuses for her.

  But there was no excuse for standing there like a helpless damsel while everyone else busted their asses. Even less excuse for raging at the man who was helping her for zero reward. Yes, it was beneath her in our nation, but it was beneath him, too, and we were no longer in our nation. I understood that she didn’t want anyone from our nation to see her as anything less than a queen, lest they think of here differently when we went back. But of course it only went one way.

  She didn’t care if Gabor demeaned himself for her, just like she hadn’t cared that I had. She’d barely shown appreciation for what I’d sacrificed for her, not just my dignity but my body. She’d no doubt show Gabor the same contempt she’d shown me after I’d debased myself for her. Just as she feared we’d never see her the same way, she’d never seen me the same way after I’d let men use me in exchange for their amulets. Gabor would probably feel the same icy contempt from her when they got back to the Ocelot Kingdom now that she’d seen him doing laundry and working like a stable hand.

  We each started stacking wood from the opposite wall of the shed, and eventually, we’d filled both sides to the top. Only a small aisle remained in the center of the shed where we’d have to squeeze in to place the last row of logs, this one against the back wall. When I turned from placing an armful of wood at the top of our side’s stack, I nearly ran smack into Gabor’s solid chest. Shadow was right behind me, crowding me toward the front. For a second, none of us moved. The air around us hung heavy with the awkwardness of our close proximity and silence.

  Gabor was soaked in sweat after working for several hours without a break. His shirt was drenched and clinging to every sculpted muscle in his torso, chest, and shoulders. I gulped, trying not to inhale the salty scent of him that made my knees nearly buckle.

  “Sorry I tried to kill you,” Shadow rasped to the guard who had shot him.

  If he expected an apology in return, I should have told him not to bother. An ocelot guard would never apologize for doing his duty.

  Gabor gave a curt nod and dropped his gaze to me. For a second, he searched my face as if looking for something, maybe a clue to what he’d ever seen in me. I glanced at the door behind him, silently begging him to turn and leave before I said something stupid.

  “Your Grace,” he said quietly, giving me an almost imperceptible nod.

  Just hearing the formal tone in his silky voice made something inside me fold in on itself, and I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath of him, curling my hands into fists so I wouldn’t reach out and touch him, run my hands over his damp skin, lick my fingers to taste the salt of his sweat. He smelled of moss and man and something dark and heady and completely his own. I nearly moaned aloud. I wasn’t sure if it was arousal or pain that made the sound rise inside me, catching in my throat and forming an ache that didn’t go away even when I tried to swallow it down.

  When I opened my eyes, I didn’t dare meet his gaze. I didn’t want to see his expression. I stared straight ahead at his chest for a second, and then he turned and ducked out of the shed. Relief and regret twisted through me at once. I could have said something, but I hadn’t. It wouldn’t have changed anything, though. He’d made up his mind, and Camila had stolen his heart. I had more than enough love already, I reminded myself.

  It didn’t make the frustration and yearning any easier, though.

  Shadow nudged my hip, and I had to fight to keep from melting back into him, letting him hold me and love me until I forgot Gabor existed. We still had work to do. It was clear we’d beaten Gabor, since he was out of wood, and we still had more than enough to fill the center row in the shed.

  “That’s not fair,” Camila protested, stamping her foot. “We didn’t know what the tools were for.”

  “Pretty sure that’s not why you lost,” I muttered.

  Shadow volunteered to finish stacking the last row while I went to round up the others. I headed down the row of sheds, letting each man know we were done and sending him back to join the group. When I’d found everyone but Tadeu, I stopped and listened, my heart catching. I didn’t know if I’d ever stop thinking he’d be gone one day, that I’d turn around and he’d have simply vanished.

  “Tadeu?” I asked, stepping around the last shed, my heart racing with anguish.

  Four

  Someone grabbed me and shoved me up against the tin wall of the shed. He spun me around, and I stared up into the dark, stormy eyes of my first lover.

  “What the fuck are you doing to me?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I managed before he crowded my body against the cold metal with his huge, cold body.

  “You said I didn’t have to be part of your sick little gangbang, but here you are, making me just about come in my pants for you,” he growled. “You’re as bad as your sister.”

  “I wasn’t doing it on purpose,” I argued. “She opened the amulet intentionally.”

  “I think you did this on purpose, too,” Tadeu said, rocking his hips against mine, letting me feel the terrifying ridge of his cock biting into me. “You just can’t stand the thought that a
guy doesn’t want to fuck you. That’s why you’re all over Gabor’s dick, too.”

  “I wasn’t,” I protested, though I could feel my cheeks heating. Was it that obvious to everyone that I wanted Gabor? That I loved him? That it broke my fucking heart that he loved my sister instead?

  It wasn’t because I wanted every guy for myself. When he’d said he couldn’t love me, I’d accepted it. I didn’t want him to have to feel the torture of a love that could never be acted upon. What Camila had done to him was barbaric.

  Tadeu shoved a huge hand between my thighs, squeezing my sex until I had to grit my teeth to keep from crying out. “Then why’s this pussy flowing like a fucking river right now?” he growled. “We could all smell your arousal when you got wet just looking at him.”

  Fuck fuck fuck. Fuck shifters and their scenting abilities. Did that mean Gabor had smelled it every time I got wet for him before, that he’d known since the early days in Florida, before I’d even met Shadow, that he could have had me?

  “I was looking at Shadow,” I said weakly. It was half true, but I didn’t know why I was even denying it to Tadeu. Maybe because he knew what beasts the guards were, and I didn’t want him to know I could love a man that brutal, one who killed in cold blood without cause, at my father’s bidding. Hell, Gabor might have been one of the guards who had strung him up and whipped him before.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Tadeu said, rubbing his hand hard between my thighs. “If you’re my mate, then lets mate.”

  “Now?” I asked, glancing around. We were outside, and it was daylight, and we were supposed to be going back to the house to talk to the chief, not fucking up against the side of her neighbor’s shed. Not to mention anyone at the back of several townhouses could see us from the windows on either floor.

  “Yeah,” Tadeu said, a bitter smile twisting his lips. “Now.”

  “We can’t,” I said, trying to twist away.

  Tadeu only pushed me back against the shed again. “If you didn’t want to mate with me, you shouldn’t have fucking claimed me.”